System Management

select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID, SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType, SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name, SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier, SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup, SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Model like “%HP ProBook 4710s%”

Recently I reinstalled ConfigMgr server in my company and was looking for an easy method to upgrade all Configuration Manager clients to 4.00.6487.2000 version.
Put some notes on the table and finally made the following plan:

• Create a report that counts all client versions. (This is optional, just for information purposes).
  Report query is:

  SELECT TOP (100) PERCENT Client_Version0 AS [ConfigMgr client version], COUNT(Client_Version0) AS Total
FROM dbo.v_R_System GROUP BY Client_Version0, Client0 HAVING (Client0 = 1)
ORDER BY Total DESC, [ConfigMgr client version]

• Create a collection (“Older Clients” for example) with all system resources with a client version not 4.00.6487.2000.
  Collection query is:

  SELECT SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID, SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType, SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name, SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier, SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup, SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client
FROM SMS_R_System
WHERE SMS_R_System.ClientVersion != "4.00.6487.2000"

  This way, system resources with older client version will be members of this collection.

• Created a package and program with ConfigMgr client upgrade with custom command line parameters.
  Program command line is:

  CCMSETUP.EXE /noservice SMSSITECODE=CFM SMSCACHESIZE=1024 SMSSLP=CFM.DOMAIN.COM SMSMP=CFM.DOMAIN.COM RESETKEYINFORMATION=TRUE

• Advertised it to “Older Clients” collection.

Now, as system resources with older client version are members of this collection they will receive the advertisement and will silently install the latest ConfigMgr client.

When the collection will have no system resources, I will know that all clients are upgraded. Also, I can check this by opening the same report from any browser on any computer.

Depending on what you need the .wim file for, you can create it manually or automatically.

- To manually create a .wim file (capture image) you need a bootable CD with Windows PE (with ImageX.exe included) that you can create using Windows Automated Installation Kit.

The basics steps are:

1. Boot your computer using Windows PE disk.
2. In the Windows PE command prompt navigate to the folder with ImageX.
3. To capture the C: partition, use the following example:
   imagex.exe /capture C: D:\CapturedImage.wim “My captured image”

   Where: C: is the partition to be captured; D:\CapturedImage.wim is the place of the captured file; “My captured image” is the name of the file.
   More switches can be found on the ImageX Command-Line Options page.

If you need the image for deployment, do not forget to run sysprep before capturing the image!

- To automatically create a .wim file you can use a capture media created using Configuration Manager.

If you want to capture a Windows XP OS, copy sysprep files to C:\sysprep. Newer operating systems have sysprep files installed by default.

To use capture media:

1. Insert the CD into your CD/DVD drive and shortly autoplay will open Image Capture Wizard.
2. Clicking Next will show you Image Destination page. Select where to save the wim file.
3. On the next page enter some information about the image.
4. On the Summary page click Finish. The task sequence will start sysprep and restart the computer. After restart, the computer will boot to Windows PE and will capture a image of the machine.

Usually, extending the Active Directory schema is the last step I do when installing SCCM. This time, while installing SCCM in a virtual machine, you have to provide a path to a folder with SCCM updates or download these updates from the internet. Working in a virtual machine with a “Local only” network adapter, I couldn’t download those updates; so I switch the network adapter to an external one. After downloading the updates, next step is “Installation Prerequisite Check” and at this step I extend the AD schema.

Well, the following error was written in ExtADSch.log file:
Unable to connect to RootDSE - Cannot update Active Directory. Error code = 1355.
Failed to extend the Active Directory Schema.

Error 1355 is: ERROR_NO_SUCH_DOMAIN. That means that the specified domain could not be contacted or does not exist. The problem here is that I did not switched back to “Local only” network adapter and so the Active Directory could not be contacted. Setting the adapter to “Local only”, I could contact the Domain Controller and extending the schema was successful.

Do you know how Microsoft IT manages thousands of servers worldwide in multiple countries for a large number of departments and customers using SCCM 2007?
If no, then you should listen to this 30 minutes podcast: Microsoft IT Business Case for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 in a Data Center.

And here is the full article about this business case. I found it very interesting…

Another very good resource I just found! The description of all log files in SCCM 2007. See bellow an example and follow the link for the full post: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892800.aspx.

Management Point Log Files

If management points are installed in the site hierarchy, management point log files are stored in the SMS_CCM\LOGS folder on the management point computer. The following table lists and describes the management point log files.